So I wrote a post a few days ago asking if water can dilute an OPK result. Here is a back story. This is my first month off BC, and my temps are all over the place. I had a temp dip on Tuesday along with ovulation pain, breakouts, EWCM, and a high cervix. Because of these symptoms, I tested to see if I was ovulating because all signs pointed to yes. I got a pretty dark line, but it was just a shade lighter than the control line. I tested the next day and there was no line, so now I am trying to figure out if I did in fact ovulate because my temps rose from the dip, but not higher than the rest, but my temps have kind of been all over the place anyways. I drink a mass amount of water throughout the day, so I didn’t know if that is why my line isn’t as dark? We aren’t ttc this cycle (we aren’t starting until May), but I would like to know if I ovulated or not. Here is a pic of my test. Is it dark enough to confirm ovulation?

@onyx81: I can’t see the picture, but if the test line wasn’t as dark as, or darker than, the control line, it was not a positive. Now, it’s possible you caught the end of your LH surge and missed your positive (as the LH level was going back down), and it’s possible your urine was diluted and you missed it that way. But, unfortunately, it’s also possible you had a slight LH surge but didn’t ovulate. Test once a day for the next few days to see if anything happens while you wait for your temps to rise above coverline and see if you get crosshairs. If your temps don’t confirm, keep testing. I’ve had experience with getting small surges before where you get an ALMOST positive, but not an actual positive, then ovulate later. I’ve also had experience where I got 3 days of positive OPKs and didn’t ovulate until almost 2 weeks later. It’s not an exact science, since having a surge does not guarantee ovulation, and LH is found in your system (in varying amounts) through your whole cycle. Keep up the BD schedule until you have confirmation with your temps, and keep testing until then as well. Hope that helped!

@onyx81: I see it now! I say it’s close, but no dice. Again, there are a couple of reasons why you might not have gotten a positive – keep up with everything until you are sure you ovulated, so you don’t miss your window if this wasn’t it. 🙂

That OPK looks pretty close to positive, close enough that I would probably have sex just to be sure. As PPs have said, you could’ve surged between that test and the one you took this morning, or you could’ve caught the tail end of your surge. Either way, keep testing until your temps just. If you don’t have a rise in temperatures, then you didn’t O, no matter how many positive OPKs you get. Better safe than sorry! Also, if you’re going to rely on OPKs, you’re probably going to have to stop drinking so much water. It sucks, but your urine needs to be concentrated enough to accurately detect the surge, and water not only dilutes your urine, but it also makes it really difficult to hold it for 3-4 hours.

Im going to say that is negative now but soooo close!!! keep testing and see what happens! What time are you testing? My RE says that between 12pm-2pm are the best time to test because that is when we get the Highest LH surge